S 2801
Canterbury Shaker Village National Heritage Area Study Authorization Act
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Bill overview
This bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine if Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire should be designated as a National Heritage Area. The study will consider the historical significance of the village, its unique Shaker culture, and its impact on the United States. It will involve consultation with various state and local organizations.
Key provisions
- Authorizes a study by the Secretary of the Interior.
- The study will assess the suitability and feasibility of designating Canterbury Shaker Village as a National Heritage Area.
- The study area is defined as the geographic boundaries of the existing National Historic Landmark.
- The study must involve consultation with state and local preservation officers, historical societies, and tourism offices.
- The study will be conducted in accordance with relevant federal law.
- The study will examine the village’s land, buildings, archaeological resources, and historical research.
Who is affected
- The Secretary of the Interior
- The State of New Hampshire
- Local historic preservation officers
- Local historical societies
- Tourism offices
Notable changes
- The bill specifically authorizes a study to determine if Canterbury Shaker Village qualifies as a National Heritage Area.
- It builds upon the existing National Historic Landmark designation.
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
Primary sponsor
Cosponsor
Thomas Tillis
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
S. 2801
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating the Canterbury Shaker Village National Heritage Area, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Canterbury Shaker Village National Heritage Area Study Authorization Act
.
Congress finds that—
Canterbury Shaker Village, which was established in 1792, has played a prominent role in the history of the United Society of Believers, commonly known as the Shakers
, which was the longest-lived and most successful of the several utopian experiments of the 19th century in the United States;
the advent and growth of the Shaker movement was a significant component of a transformational religious and social fervor in the United States—
which is known as the Second Great Awakening
; and
that led to the development of a number of churches and sects that diversified and enriched the society of the United States;
the Shakers—
were a communal and celibate religious group that saw work, music, and dance as worship;
practiced equality of the sexes, pacifism, and technological invention; and
by withdrawing from the larger society, developed a refined and aesthetically significant expression of architecture, decorative arts, and utilitarian objects that are now known and studied throughout the world;
Canterbury Shaker Village played an increasingly important role in the Shaker movement, eventually becoming the home of the Shaker Central Ministry, which supervised the consolidation at Canterbury Shaker Village of other Shaker settlements as the other settlements declined and closed during the 20th century, preserving and distilling remnants of the societies at a single site;
Canterbury Shaker Village was the only Shaker community to deliberately transform the community from a religious society to a nonprofit museum, Canterbury Shaker Village, Inc., to which, in 1969, Canterbury Shaker Village conveyed the land, buildings, furnishings, and archives of Canterbury Shaker Village as an intact legacy;
in 1992, in recognition of the historical significance and physical integrity of Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury Shaker Village was designated as a National Historic Landmark;
as of the date of enactment of this Act, Canterbury Shaker Village includes—
approximately 700 acres of land;
25 buildings; and
extensive and verified archaeological resources, gardens, orchards, a community cemetery, miles of roadways, stone culverts and walls, and a chain of manmade ponds that have powered a range of industries, including some industries that derived from the inventions of the Shakers; and
Canterbury Shaker Village has been the beneficiary of years of concentrated surveying, mapping, photographic recordation, archaeological investigation, and documentary research and writing that—
reflect a fascination on the part of the outside world with Canterbury Shaker Village that began in the early 1800s;
are scholarly and popular in nature; and
have defined a cultural landscape and a historical legacy that is of national significance and high educational and aesthetic value to the people of the United States.
In this Act:
The term Secretary
means the Secretary of the Interior.
The term State means the State of New Hampshire.
The term study area means the geographic boundaries of the Canterbury Shaker Village National Historic Landmark located in Merrimack County, New Hampshire.
The Secretary, in consultation with State and local historic preservation officers, State and local historical societies, State and local tourism offices, and other appropriate organizations and governmental agencies and in accordance with section 120103(a) of title 54, United States Code, shall conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating the study area as a National Heritage Area, to be known as the Canterbury Shaker Village National Heritage Area
.